Humans, Aliens and the DEAD
by Theboblinator
Summary: The world as we know it has changed. Zombies are real, and they roam the land looking to sate their hunger. At the same time, a different breed of organisms scour the planet, looking to kill the human inhabitants. Through this, a small band of students and their teacher will try to survive, with only one of them knowing the true horrors that await them in the future...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Japan will never be the same…**

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 **Author's Note Part 1: After leaving my last version to sit for nearly a year (at the time of starting this first AN)… I've finally returned… Welcome back everyone, to another attempt at my HOTD and AVP crossover story! Brought to you by the persistent Notros who you can thank for finally getting me back on track in terms of this story. Honestly, if it wasn't for them, It would probably still be left unchecked due to all the other stories that I currently have out. Now, I'm sure a good amount of you are wondering about the fact that I'm uploading a re-write, instead of just editing my last version. Well, let me explain.**

 **See, because it's been nearly a year since I last worked on my story, I decided to read through it and edit it a bit… That is, before I ended up starting to work on this instead. The reason for this is because after looking it over, I realized that my writing style has changed drastically. After all, I've written more since then, and I honestly believe that I've improved. Not only that, but after reading through the last version, I also noticed how it was lacking in quite a few places. Whether it was lack of detail, or the fact that some scenes just didn't seem to flow very well.**

 **So, in this story I'll be writing more of the actual scenes out, instead of just giving brief overviews of them. Not only that, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to write out scenes with more detail this time around to give you guys a better reading experience. Now, since I've explained the reason behind the re-write, I guess that I can tell you guys what going to be "changed" in _this_ version of my story…**

 **1: The OC x Saeko is _still_ going to be in this! However, even if they won't have an established relationship before the events like my other HOTD story where my OC is paired with Saeko, this time around they'll already be very close to one another, but they won't get together until after the school is overrun and they escape. That way, them getting together quickly isn't too sudden like it was in my last version.**

 **2: My OC's name is changing once again. Though this time, it's mainly cause I don't want to have _both_ of my HOTD stories have the OC named Jack… (I'm not counting my first HOTD story here, because that's going to be given an extreme overhaul and eventually be completely re-written from the ground up sometime in the future…)**

 **3: Some more slight plot divergences. These won't be too big, seeing as I don't really feel the need to since I'll be doing plenty of "Original" Story Arcs after I run out of anime episodes. (Although whether I use the manga or not is still up in the air, seeing as I now have internet access to websites that I can use…)**

 **Anyways, at the moment, that's all I can think of. So, I'll let you guys get to reading the first chapter!**

 **(One last thing: For future chapters, a big thanks to "The Game Theorists" and "Film Theorists" because of their zombie related videos on YouTube. They've given me some interesting and important info to work with when it comes to events that the groups from the Walking Dead, and HOTD go through. If you've seen their videos, you'll probably notice the info and changes I make to this story based on what I learned. And if not, I'll make sure to reference them in the second Author's Note of the chapters those changes appear in. Now, without further ado, here's the first chapter of this Re-Write!)**

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 **3rd Person POV:**

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On a set of stairs built onto the side of Fujimi Academy, an 18 year old male can be seen with his hands resting on the railing, looking out over the courtyard at the front of the school. He's wearing the male version of the school's outfit, has Caucasian skin, azure eyes, and black hair that reaches down to the back of his neck. This teen is Chris Davis. However, even though he's looking out over the courtyard, his eyes are glazed over as memories flash through him mind. Situations that occurred only a few years ago playing out for him to relive for the hundredth time.

 _Rain steadily falling from the sky onto the pavement._

 _Corpses with skin and bone that appear to be melted away lying on the cement ground, their faces permanently stuck in an expression of pure fear._

 _Lightning flashing and thunder echoing through the air that was already filled with the sound of rain falling onto the cement ground._

 _A large, skinny shadow letting off a screech into the night sky as it stands on a raised portion of broken road._

 _Metal held in fairly small hands reflecting the light from the lightning, making the shadowed figure turn in the direction that the reflection of light came from._

 _The figure leaping off the cement and rushing in that direction only seconds later._

 _The screech sounding through the air once again as the metal is brought up to meet the figure._

Chris is broken out of his trip down memory lane when that second screech echoes through his mind, making him shake his head to clear it as he focuses on the courtyard once again. As he does this, he notices a familiar shape walking towards the gym, and raises his arm to wave to them when he sees them looking up at him. In response, he sees them give a wave in return, before they make a motion as if they're blowing a kiss to him. He can only chuckle and shake his head in response as they turn around and continue across the courtyard, before walking into the gym and closing the doors behind them.

 _Of course you've gotta have the last say Saeko. I wouldn't expect you to try anything else._ Chris thinks to himself, before he sighs as he remembers the events that played out in his mind's eye just a few moments ago. _Why…? Why are they coming back_ now _of all times?_ He wonders as he looks up at the sky. The bright blue color being replaced by a stormy night for a few seconds, before changing back to the regular, clear afternoon sky. Chris can only shake his head again at the sight, before he turns around when he hears the doors on the landing behind him open to show one of the few friends he has at this school walking out.

Walking down the stairs to the same landing that Chris is standing on is a 17 year old male. He's wearing the same school outfit as Chris, and has Caucasian skin and spiked black hair. However, his eyes are brown instead of blue, even if they hold the same look in them that was present in Chris' eyes only a few seconds ago. This teen is Takashi Komuro. As Takashi makes it onto the same landing as Chris, he places his arms on the railing, and looks out over the courtyard. When he does this, Chris sighs as he turns around and copies his friend while he decides to wait for Takashi to snap out of his own trip down memory lane.

A few minutes later, Takashi starts to mutter under his breath quiet enough that Chris is only barely able to hear what he's saying. "Pinky promise… Cross my heart, and hope to die… Yeah, right." Takashi mutters, and Chris sighs as he thinks about his friend's own reason for coming to this spot. However, he flinches a second later when a voice that's familiar to the two of them can be heard talking behind them.

"That's so stupid." The voice says, and the two turn around to see a familiar sight. Dressed in the female version of the school outfit with Caucasian skin, pink hair tied into pigtails, and green eyes is Saya Takagi. Classmate to Takashi, and one of the smartest students in the academy. The only real reason that Chris knew her was because of the many times that she'd scolded the two of them for being depressed while at the same time she'd find different ways to insult them… Like now.

"What do _you_ want?" Takashi asks the pink haired girl, even as she starts talking when he barely manages to finish asking the question.

"Every time you have to face something you don't like, you always come to this _stupid_ staircase. It's like your own little pity corner with Davis, look at you two. Good God, the first semester has _just_ started, how are you _ever_ going to make it through the year?" She asks the two teens, though her focus is mainly on Takashi as she asks this. In response, Chris just turns around to rest his arms on the railing and look out over the courtyard again, while Takashi simply turns his head away from the pinkette.

"I could ask you the same thing. The fifth period isn't even _over_ _yet_." He says in disbelief, since while it was normal for him and Chris to be here when they were unable to focus on what was happening during their classes, Saya Takagi was _not_ the kind of person to step out of class.

"It's okay because _I'm_ genius. Unlike _you two_ who got into this school by _dumb luck_." She says, getting a sigh from Chris in response to her words.

"Takagi, is there a _reason_ that you feel the need to constantly say stuff like that to us?" He asks as he turns around to look at the pinkette standing behind them with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I don't like stupid people." Is her response, making Chris roll his eyes while Takashi turns to look at her in confusion and surprise.

"What?" He asks her in confusion, though there's some slight annoyance in his voice as well.

"Especially those ones who can't _admit_ that they're stupid…. I mean, you two are pretty stupid, but at least you _know_ you are. So if I tell you that you're stupid, maybe by some _miracle_ you'll be less stupid, _stupid_." She says to them, making Chris shake his head in response to her "explanation". However, Takashi's response is instead to simply take the pinkette's words in stride, and then turn and look out over the courtyard with a sigh once again, intent on just ignoring Takagi now.

In response, the pinkette looks at him with a frown. "Grow up. Moping because your little friend dumped you?" She asks, before turning around to head back up the stairs, only to pause for a second to look back at the two raven haired teens leaning against the railing. "Stupid…" She mutters, before making her way up the stairs and back inside the building. As the two continue to lean against the railing, Chris decides to simply stay there as a comfort to his friend, while Takashi continues to remember the memories of his previous girlfriend, eventually remembering the moment that she dumped him.

"…"So" what?" He mutters, thinking about the sentence that she'd left unfinished right before she left him. In response, Chris sighs, before patting his friend on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. However, a different distraction comes in the form of a constant banging sound echoing through the air, making the two teens turn to look in the direction that it's coming from to see a man constantly walking into the front gate of the school. "Who's that…? A trespasser?" Takashi wonders, and Chris can only shrug in response.

"No idea. But it looks like they're wondering the same thing." Chris says as he points to the group of staff that were heading towards the man at the gate, the vice-principal standing at the front of the group. Unfortunately, the two males are too far away from the group to hear what they say, but it doesn't stop them from seeing the events that play out over the next minute or so. At first, they flinched since Mr. Tojima was acting like he usually did by pulling the guy against the gate. He didn't usually do _this_ , but he _was_ one of those stereotypical PE teachers that acted almost like a drill sergeant.

However, the two students went from flinching to having horrified looks on their faces when the man at the gate suddenly freed himself from the man's grip without a problem, and then proceeded to lean down at tear a chunk out of Mr. Tojima's arm as if it was a chicken leg. The amount of skin, muscle and blood veins that were a part of that chunk made it clear that it was a fatal wound. However, that didn't stop the man from falling to the ground, clutching at his torn apart arm as he screamed in pain.

While this was happening, Takashi could only stare at the scene in shock and horror, much like the teachers that were standing around the dying man. As for Chris, he was gripping the metal railing in front of him in a death grip as his eyes were glued to the man behind the gate, who was actually _eating_ the torn out chunk of his former teacher's arm. And with his body turned, Chris was able to see the large portion of the man's side that had been torn apart, revealing bone. At the sight, his eyes widen as he realizes just what that man was, and as a result, what Mr. Tojima was about to become.

And only a few seconds later, Mr. Tojima's struggles cease, and his body stops moving around, going limp on the concrete beneath it. At the sight, Takashi and the teachers can only stare at the man's body in shock, while Chris grits his teeth at the sight of the man dying. It wasn't the first time he'd seen it happen, and it wasn't even in the top ten of the gruesome deaths that he'd seen… In real life with his own eyes that is. However, the teachers are surprised when, despite the grey skin the former teacher had, his body started to move again.

Takashi was still staring at the body in shock, along with the two other living male teachers in the courtyard, as it pushed itself up off the ground slightly, while the only female of the group leaned over the man with a smile on her face, feeling relief as she believes that the man was getting back up in order to get help for his wound. However, only a few seconds later, she's screaming in fear as the man's hand grabs her shoulder, and his teeth dig into her neck. Then, that scream is cut off as flesh and tissue is torn from her body, leaving her to gurgle on the blood filling her throat.

She's dead only a few seconds later, and the former PE teacher leans over her dead body to continue its feast, leaving one of the men that was still living to collapse to the ground in shock and horror, while the other one runs back towards the school, most likely to warn the students and faculty about what just happened at the entrance, and do something about it. Finally, Takashi manages to snap out of his shocked state, and turn to face his friend, who was already looking at him.

No words were spoken between the two as they both turned, and ran up the stairs to head into the school. Takashi's mind had immediately gone to Rei, and the need to warn her about what just happened, while Chris was more focused on the actual events that just happened, and what he was going to need to do in the aftermath. And because they left the landing in a hurry, neither one noticed a sleek black tail shoot out from behind the wall, and impale the former PE teacher's head, before flinging the body away.

A few seconds later, a sleek black shape made its way onto the Fujimi Academy grounds, staying in the shadows the entire time so that its shape couldn't be distinguished. However, it's gaze was immediately brought to a vent on the wall of the school, and the tail that it had shot towards the metal covering, denting it with enough force to bend it out of shape so that it fell to the ground, and allowed the figure to enter the ventilation shaft, and by extension, get into the school.

Meanwhile, the first "man" that had appeared outside the Academy gates simply continued to eat its "meal", completely unaware of the events that "he" had committed that would affect the entire school over the next few hours…

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After entering the school and making their way towards Takashi's class, Chris turns to his friend as they continue running. "Takashi, you get Rei and Hisashi from class, and bring them to my locker. I have a few things in it that might be able to help us." He tells his friend as they turn a corner and start heading down the hall that Takashi's class is located in. The only response he gets is a nod from his friend as he slows down as they get closer to his class. And as Takashi comes to a halt in front of his classroom's door and slams it open, Chris continues running down the hall.

While Chris continues to run, his serious look remains on his face as he thinks about the events that just occurred in the school's courtyard. _Zombies… Fucking_ Zombies _of all things! But how the hell didn't we hear about it?! I checked my phone just a few minutes after exiting class to try and get my mind focused on something else, and there was_ nothing _about fucking Zombies!_ He thinks to himself as he turns another corner, and heads down the hall that his locker is located.

 _Fucking hell…_ One person _comes down with Ebola, and it's on Twitter and Facebook in minutes. So how the hell did a Zombie Outbreak manage to get to the school without anybody hearing a damn thing about it?!_ He wonders as he skids to a stop in front of his locker, and puts in the combination to unlock it, throwing the door open a few seconds later as he drops the lock to the ground, and digs through it, pushing the books and papers out and onto the floor. As he digs through the contents of his locker, he continues to think about an explanation.

 _Let's see, nothing on the web within an hour before the Zombie showed up, and there's no way it randomly happened a few feet away from the school, cause that guy_ definitely _wasn't Patient Zero based on the large portion of his waist that was eaten away, so that means that there were probably a few more before him that transferred the disease to him._ He thinks, finally grabbing the strap to his Sports Bag, and yanking it out of the locker, opening it to check the contents a few seconds later. _This means that the only explanation is that it probably happened in a less populated area, and spread to here within the past hour._ He thinks to himself, before shaking his head.

 _No, that still wouldn't work, since people would no doubt_ see _that the guy's a Zombie, and send out some form of message onto the internet with a clear picture. So why the hell hasn't there been anything?... Unless, the other Zombies got to them_ before _they could post something…_ His eyes widen when he realizes this, since it meant that he was unfortunate enough to be stuck in Ground Zero for the Zombie Apocalypse. And thinking about it, that was probably the worst thing that could happen, since this wasn't like the movies and TV shows.

Humans had been preparing for the zombie apocalypse to an extent, whether they knew it or not. Because with all the media that focused on Zombies, everyone at least had an inkling as to what to do in this situation. And for those that were in Ground Zero that meant that their country was likely going to be quarantined from the rest of the world, and anybody who had already left would be screened once they got to their next location in an effort to stop the spread into more countries.

What would likely follow were two different scenarios. The first was the most likely, unfortunately. Japan would be nuked by most of the other countries around the world in an effort to reduce the number of the Infected. Then, the armed forces would likely be sent in to take care of the rest if the radiation had no effect on the dead, and the citizens that hadn't been infected, and weren't exposed to a massive dose of nuclear radiation, would be sent out of the ruins of the country, before Japan would be left to rot.

The second scenario was that the rest of the world would simply leave the quarantined country to fend for itself with the occasional air drops to keep survivors alive, sort of like what happened in Dying Light. However, guards around the country would have to be much more vigilant than your normal, everyday guard, in an attempt to stop anyone, or anything, from exiting the quarantine zone, since it would be a matter of _world safety_. Which meant that any survivors would be forced to do their best in a completely enclosed environment, with no real help for the foreseeable future.

Shaking his head to clear the depressing thoughts from his head, Chris reaches into his bag and starts to remove items, though he can't help but think about the first scenario a bit more as he attaches a slightly bulky bracer to his arm, a pricking sensation going through the back of his wrist for a few seconds, before it goes away

 _It would be a bit ironic. The country where the first Atom Bombs were "tested" would be bombarded by Nukes from every nation worldwide…_ He thinks with a frown, before shaking his head yet again as he continues to remove a few items, and clip them to his belt before zipping the bag closed just as he hears footsteps heading in his direction. Standing up and looking in the direction that they were coming from, he saw Takashi, Rei and Hisashi coming towards him, before they stopped a few feet away.

Rei was wearing the female school outfit, and had Caucasian skin, auburn hair, and brown eyes. Meanwhile, her current boyfriend, and former best friend of Takashi, Hisashi, had Caucasian skin, light brown eyes, and platinum blond hair. The two were looking at Chris with just as much seriousness as Takashi, though Chris could see that Rei had a red mark on her face that was already starting to disappear. _Most likely she was freaking out and Takashi had to slap her to get her to pay attention or something like that._ Chris thinks to himself with a mental frown.

"I'm assuming that Takashi's already filled you in?" He asks them, getting serious nods from the other two in response. "Good, then that means that we can at least start to get ready for what's coming." He states, Takashi nodding in response as he heads over to a Janitor's closet and opens the door, before reaching in and pulling out a broom, which he snaps the handle off of, before handing it to Rei. Chris nods at Takashi's choice, since it was well known that Rei was probably the best spear user in the school, and with the spiraling nail at the end of the handle, Rei was now wielding her own makeshift spear.

His gaze is then drawn to a student's sports bag a few feet away near a bathroom, presumably because the student had left it there after he went to use the men's room, and Chris heads over to it, before pulling out one of the bats, and tossing it to Takashi, who catches it with a nod. While Chris may have felt bad taking away another student's defense, there was another bat inside of the bag. So he didn't feel like he was _completely_ condemning the student to death. As he walks back over towards the group, he looks at his friends.

"Alright, we've gotta get out of here now." He says, getting nods from Takashi and Hisashi, who hopefully wouldn't need a weapon thanks to having a black belt in karate… He'd just have to make sure that he didn't do anything stupid. However, Rei has a different idea than just leaving the school.

"First, we should call the police." She says, and thinking about it, Takashi and Hisashi nod in response. However, Chris raises an eyebrow.

"Why would we bother?" He asks, making the other three look at him in shock and confusion. Shock because he was basically saying that they _shouldn't_ warn the authorities, and confusion… Well, pretty much for the same reason. _Why_ wouldn't he want to warn people about this? However in response to their looks, he simply scowls. "Really? You're actually wondering that?" He asks them, before turning to his best friend. "Takashi, you saw the guy at the gate, did you _see_ his waist?" He asks his friend, making Takashi think about it.

"Well, yeah. It's kinda hard to miss the large chunk taken out of a guy's side, isn't it?" He asks, getting a nod of agreement from Chris in response.

"Alright, but if you think about it, that means that _something_ had to _take_ that chunk out of him, right?" He asks, and Takashi nods, before he thinks about what Chris said, and pales. The other two looking at them in confusion.

"Uh, not to sound stupid, but what do you mean?" Hisashi asks, making Chris turn to face him.

"What I'm trying to say is that the guy at the gate _definitely_ wasn't Patient Zero. And the first to be turned _probably_ wasn't the only one to take his fair share out of the guy's waist. So, with that in mind, _where were the other ones that were eating him?_ " He asks the other two, making them think about it, before they join Takashi in paling with realization, making Chris nod at them in response. "Exactly. My guess is, this isn't _only_ happening here. If I had to take a guess, it's already starting to spread further from here, and the local authorities are already getting calls from anyone and everyone about this." He says, before running a hand through his hair.

"Luckily, from the looks of things, the people that are turned, end up only being able to shamble along from what I can see, which means it's probably a slow process. If we can get out of here, we can probably make it into the city, and find a better defendable location than here before any more of those things make it to the further parts of the city. Cause this place probably won't last long in terms of food and water." He says, getting nods from his friends in response to his suggestion. However, before they can go anywhere, they hear the intercom turn on above them, and they turn their direction to it as the person behind the speaker starts talking.

"This announcement is for all the students…" The voice pauses as the man takes a breath to calm himself, before he continues speaking. "An emergency situation is taking place inside the school _right now_. All students must follow your teacher's instructions and _evacuate_." The man states, and Chris nods in response to the guy's words. From the sounds of it, the adults weren't _complete_ idiots at this school, and realized that it wouldn't be a very good place to hold out.  "I repeat, an incident is taking place in the school _right now_. All students-" However, he's cut off as the sound of metal banging is heard on the other side of the intercom, making the man stop talking, and making the four teens frown.

"It's happening…" Takashi mutters, and the other three immediately know what he means by that. Chris scowls in response to his friend's words, because it meant that things were about to get a whole lot harder for them. However, while Chris was right that it would be harder, it wasn't because of the reason that the four teens were thinking. The sound of metal banging is heard a couple more times through the intercom, before it sounds like whatever was being hit falls to the ground, and the man who was previously talking takes a sharp intake of breath at whatever he sees.

"W-What…?" The man says, making Chris' frown deepen, since while the man's voice was filled with fear, it was also filled with confusion, like he didn't know what he was looking at. "N-No… You aren't one of those things… Wha-What _are_ you…?" The man continues, making the other three frown as well, since now they knew that whatever was in the office with him, _wasn't_ what Chris and Takashi had seen earlier.  "N-No! St-Stay back! Don't come any close-" However, the man's voice is cut off by his pained gasp. This made Takashi and Chris share a look, since it was completely different from the pained filled screams that the two gym teachers had let out when they were bitten earlier.

A few seconds later, and the sound of flesh being torn, and bones being crushed can be heard through the loudspeaker, making the fear and confusion in the two rise even more at the completely different sounds than what they'd heard earlier. However, the sound that follows makes the confusion and fear in one rise even more, while in the other, that confusion is completely erased, and his body is filled with bone chilling fear. Because the sound that comes through the speaker is one that many people had heard in the past, but only one had lived through the events the sound was associated with.

The sound was difficult to properly describe. It almost sounded like what you would hear if you combined a Snake's hiss, with a raccoons shriek, and a cat's hiss. While three of the teens present could only stare at the intercom with confusion at the sound, along with fear at how it sounded, one teen took a step back from the speaker, his eyes wide as he stared up at it. "…Shit…" He mutters, making the three turn to face him, and see the fear clear on his face.

"What? What is it Chris?" Takashi asks, a bit more scared at the look of raw _fear_ in his friend's face, since he'd never seen him like that before. Chris just continues to stare at the speaker, not reacting to his friend's question. He's only brought back to the present when Takashi walks over and places a hand on his shoulder, making Chris jump, and blink his eyes as he stares at Takashi, almost like he was waking from a nightmare. After a few seconds, he brushes his friend's hand off his shoulder, and turns around.

"Let's go." He says, apparently not even realizing that Takashi had asked him a question a few seconds ago. "We _need_ to get out of here. If we stay in these halls, we're going to be _fucked_." He says, and the other three hurry to catch up with him.

"Why? Chris, what's going on?" Hisashi asks, and the teen simply looks over his shoulder at the platinum blond haired teen, before turning to continue to stare ahead of him as he stalks through the hallways of the school.

"That sound? I've heard it before. Too many fucking times for me to count. And it can only mean one thing…" He trails off as what sounds like a tidal wave rushes through the school, making the other three flinch at the sudden influx of sound, while Chris simply squares his shoulders as he glares at nothing in particular while he continues to stalk forwards. "From today onwards, Japan will _never_ be the same…" He states as the chaotic sounds of panicked students rushing for the exits echoes through the school.

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 **Author's Note Part 2: Well guys, here you go! The first chapter to my Re-Write has been completed! And in this one, I've managed to fill a chapter with just over 5,000 words, even though in my previous version, these scenes only took up a bit more than half of the first chapter. So, expect the coming chapters to not only be "longer", but also have even more of them! I'm honestly happy with this, since it _definitely_ proves that I'm putting more detail into my stories nowadays…**

 **Anyways, since this is the first chapter, I don't have any reviews to respond to. Especially seeing as the only ones that I _could_ respond to are from the latest chapter of my previous version of this, and for the people who are only _now_ reading this version, responding to those might spoil the coming events for them. Although, that does bring up something that I want to warn you all about.**

 **See, I was talking to Notros as he continued to ask me to get back to this, and due to the fact that they're the one who's stuck with this story for the longest, I asked them for their opinion. "Publish each chapter once I finish it, which makes the chances of me leaving the story to sit after doing so even greater", or "write up until the same part that I stopped my previous version, and then post all the chapters over a small period of time" As you can imagine from the fact that this is a warning, they chose the second option. So, I'll be working on this story over the next couple, few days, and then posting a chapter every day.**

 **Because of this, while I will probably edit the second Author's Notes in chapters so that I can respond to reviews from the previous day (seeing as I plan to post a chapter every day or two when I upload this), if any of you give me ideas to work into this story, unless it's after they've left Rika's house, it's unlikely that I'll be able to incorporate it, seeing as I'll have all the parts up to Rika's house already written. So, yeah. If you guys want to give any suggestions, make sure they're for after the group has left Rika's house.**

 **Anyways, I think that's about all I have to say for this chapter, so now, I'm gonna go ahead and pull an all-nighter to write out the next chapter, along with a the ones that follow. Not entirely sure what tomorrow will bring me in terms of real life stuff, but here's hoping I'll be able to use a majority of the day to continue to write this story! Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**

 **(Update: Alright, it's a few days later now, and unfortunately I'm changing my plans a bit. From here on out, I'm getting up to around the point the group splits after the bus crash that makes Takashi and Rei head off on their own for a little while, and then I'm gonna be posting a chapter every day or two. The main reason for this is because I now have a full time job, and it's a bit more difficult for me to have time to write.**

 **Anyways, I figured that because people have waited long enough for this, I'd get to around the halfway point of where I got last time, and then start posting for you guys to enjoy. Afterwards, I'll do something similar where I'll write up to the point that I reached in my last version, and then post those chapters over the timeframe of a few days as well.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Different Infections**

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 **Author's Note Part 1: Hey guys! Here I am writing the second chapter only seconds after I finished the previous one! So in this one, I'll be writing about the rest of the events from the first episode, with a few changes made to it. Some will be kept from my previous version, while others… Well, seeing this is a Re-Write and I only have a few _important_ scenes planned out for later, I don't honestly know what to expect for this chapter at the time I'm writing this. So, I guess you could say that at the moment, I'm just as "in the dark" as you guys. With that being said, I'll get to writing so that you guys can all start to read it soon enough!**

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 **3rd Person POV:**

* * *

The group of four made their way through the halls in an attempt to get to the Management Building, passing by a few unwelcome scenes along the way. Bodies of students that had been trampled to death underneath the feet of their fellow students as they attempted to escape the building, a few students that couldn't take it leaping out of the windows before any of the four teens could stop them, a couple teachers even doing the same, and one scene that might have escalated into a male student raping a female one, if Chris hadn't intervened and knocked the student out, allowing the girl to run away in tears.

The group decided to leave the would be rapist there for whatever things were now roaming around the halls of the school. With the events currently going on, and everything pointing towards an apocalypse, those kinds of people, rapists, murderers and the like, didn't _deserve_ to stay in a safe place. But that didn't mean that anyone in the group was going to kill him outright at the moment, since none of them were ready to take that kind of action against another living human being. Or, at least, three fourths of them weren't ready to. While the last fourth may have done it, he wouldn't in the presence of his friends.

Finally, the four open a door onto the skywalk between the school buildings, and rush out so that they can continue towards the Management Building in an attempt to get out of the school. However, walking towards the middle of the four way intersection from the direction of the Faculty Office was a teacher wearing black sandals, tan pants, and a red vest over a white long sleeved shirt. And as the four teens rush onto the walkway, he turns in their direction. However, Chris notices that he isn't acting "right".

Rei, who's at the front of the group, stops with a slight gasp at the sight of him. "That's Mr. Wakisaka, what's the matter with him?" She asks in confusion, making Chris narrow his eyes to focus on the man a few yards away, before his eyes widen at the sight of a trail of blood leading down his pants, and dripping onto the stone tiled floor. However, before he can say anything, the "man" takes a few steps towards them, and opens "his" mouth as he lets out a raspy breath, a small trail of blood leaking out of his mouth and down part of his chin. And then, as Hisashi notices the same things as Chris, it's too late to say anything as the "man" suddenly starts walking towards them, picking up speed as he gets closer.

When he's a few feet away, his arms stretch out towards Rei, who's the closest, making the auburn haired female backpedal away from him. "Get away from me!" She exclaims, swinging her makeshift spear in an attempt to ward him off. However, it doesn't work as Mr. Wakisaka continues towards her, his arms still outstretched in an attempt to grab her. Realizing exactly what was going on, Hisashi focuses on his girlfriend.

"Rei! Stab him!" He exclaims, making her stare at him in shock at what he's saying. "Give it all you've got! Don't hold back!" The platinum blond haired teen continues, and Rei can only stare at him with wide eyes due to the fact that he's basically saying to _kill_ the man in front of her, since she's yet to realize what was going on. However, that shock allowed Mr. Wakisaka to get close enough to grab her makeshift spear, and push against her, making her step back in an attempt to keep from falling over.

As she pushes back against him, she can only stare in surprise at the former teacher, who was attempting to get close enough to kill _her_. When she realizes this, her fearful gaze changes into an angered one, and she forces the "man" to stumble away from her as she forcefully breaks his hold on her makeshift spear, and holds it in her hand, ready for use. "Don't fuck with me!" She exclaims as she rushes forwards and starts to beat the former teacher with the broom handle turned spear. "I'm VP of the martial arts club!" She exclaims as she slams her weapon down on top of his head, before twisting, and stabbing him through the area where his heart is.

The result is the body hanging limply on the tip of the weapon, swaying just above the ground, giving a testament to just how balanced and strong Rei actually is, to be able to hold a body in the air at the tip of a makeshift spear a few feet away from her, without losing her stance. And yet, while Hisashi and Takashi "celebrate" over Rei successfully defending herself, Chris can only scowl.

"You idiots!" He exclaims, making the three turn to look at him, before their attention is brought back to the body dangling on Rei's makeshift spear as it twitches and lets off a groan, before moving its body, forcing Rei to stumble backwards as the, what the three teens assumed to be, dead body suddenly started moving again. And as the body of Mr. Wakisaka tries to get to Rei, his movements force the auburn haired girl to let go of her weapon and hit into the side of the railing as she falls to the floor, before she grabs onto her makeshift spear as it swings around due to the fact it's still stuck in the former man's body.

As the corpse continues to move in an attempt to get to Rei, she can only stare up at it in shock and horror. "This is insane! I stabbed him in the heart! How is he still moving?!" She exclaims, before Hisashi runs forwards and wraps his arms around the body's neck, wrenching it backwards to make it so that Rei had less force pushing against her, allowing her to get to her feet as Chris and Takashi watch from a few feet away, not wanting to get closer in fear of hitting either of their friends.

"Are you guys blind?!" Chris exclaims in shock and anger as Rei pulls the makeshift spear out of the body.

"Hisashi, get away from him!" Takashi exclaims, fearing for his friend as he continued to try and keep the living corpse from moving around too much. However, in response to Takashi's words, Hisashi simply sends him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I can take him." He tells Takashi. However, what follows horrifies the three regular students, as the corpse's eye seems to turn into its head and face the direction that Hisashi's voice came from, before it twists its neck almost 180 degrees, which _should_ have snapped the thing's neck, and then bites down on Hisashi's arm. And despite the bite not penetrating the skin, on account of the lack of blood, that didn't stop the platinum blond haired teen from releasing a shout of pain in response.

In response to his shout of pain, Takashi Immediately runs forwards. "Hey you! Get the hell away from him!" Takashi shouts at the living corpse, bringing his bat down on the thing's head, and leaving a bloody smear on the wood. Unfortunately, he didn't put enough for behind it to actually cave in the head, and the thing continues its attempts to bite into Hisashi's arm. When Takashi's attempt fails, Rei is the next to run towards her boyfriend.

"Hisashi!" She exclaims, stabbing the corpse in its back, but not doing anything to help the platinum bond haired teen. "Jesus Christ, why won't he just die already?!" Rei exclaims in confusion and horror. Making Chris growl off to the side.

"It's because he already _is_ dead!" He exclaims, before rushing forwards, his right hand clenching into a fist, and causing the bracer on his arm to eject two claw-like protrusions, which he then stabs into the head of the living corpse, detaching it from Hisashi's arm, and causing the body to go limp at the ends of the claws. When Chris unclenches his fists, the claws retract, and the body, now actually dead, falls to the ground in a limp heap.

However, as he turns around, it's to the unfortunate sight of Hisashi cradling his arm to his chest, the clothing where the living corpse bit into completely gone, and a trail of blood leaking from some bite marks. It was apparent that he hadn't gotten there in time, and judging by Hisashi's facial expression, he realized this as well. Thinking about their options, he turns to his other two friends. "Takashi, Rei." He says, making them turn towards him. "You two scout on ahead for a path to the roof, it _should_ be fairly clear up there, so it's a place that we can barricade ourselves to actually relax for a little while and think of a plan." He says, making the two think about it, before nodding.

Rei looks over at Hisashi one more time, getting a nod from the teen, before the two leave Chris and the platinum blond haired teen behind as they look ahead to look for a path to the roof, and clear it out if they need to. Once they're gone, Chris immediately reaches for one of the disks at his belt, and flicks his hand so that small blades protrude from the circumference, frowning at Hisashi as he does this, who frowns back. "You know this is going to hurt, right?" He asks, getting a nod in response.

Chris gives his own nod, before reaching into his bag, and pulling out a smooth piece of wood partially wrapped in cloth, some gauze, and a bottle of pain killers. He hands the piece of wood to the platinum blond haired teen, who immediately puts it into his mouth and clenches it between his teeth, before Chris helps him hold the injured arm out straight, perpendicular to his body. "Alright Hisashi, I'm gonna do it on three… One… Two!" He exclaims, bringing the bladed disk down just below Hisashi's shoulder on the second count, catching the platinum blond teen off guard so that the pain is lessened slightly, though that doesn't stop Hisashi from letting out a strained yell through the wood that's clenched between his teeth.

Chris immediately drops the severed limb to the ground, and starts the process of heavily bandaging the amputated area, making sure to cover the wound completely, before opening the pill bottle, and handing Hisashi two of them as he takes back the piece of wood, Hisashi immediately swallowing the two pills, even as tears leak out of the corner of his eyes from the pain of having his arm cut off. As Chris packs the items back into his bag, he glances over at his friend. "You realize why I did that, right?" He asks, getting a nod from Hisashi, even as he swallows to keep himself from screaming in pain.

A few minutes later, the other two return, and their eyes widen at the sight of the two that they'd left behind sitting against the railing, with Hisashi's amputated limb lying on the floor a few feet away. "Hisashi!" Rei exclaims in shock and horror as she rushes over to her boyfriend and helps him stand, while Takashi simply stands in place and stares at the limb with wide eyes.

"I'm alright Rei. Chris was just amputating the limb to keep any infection from spreading. We don't want this to be like the movies, right?" He manages to say in a pained voice as Chris gets to his feet a few feet away, making the platinum blond haired teen turn to look at him. "I think… I think I'm okay to move now." He tells Chris getting a nod in response as he turns to Takashi, who swallows as he forces his gaze away from the arm lying on the ground, and nod to Chris.

"There's a path that leads to the roof that was clear when we went through. And it didn't sound like there was anything around either, so it should still be fine." He tells Chris, making him nod in response, before turning to Rei, who gives her own nod, despite a majority of her attention being on Hisashi and his current condition. When he sees this, Chris turns his attention back to Takashi.

"Aright, feel free to lead the way." He tells his friend, getting a nod in response. As they leave the area, Rei and Takashi take one more look at the limb laying on the ground, before leaving it behind as they walk into the building that would give them a clear path to the roof so that they could hold out.

* * *

When the four got to the roof, Chris immediately closed the door they exited behind them to give them a little more time if any of the Zombies made their way up towards their position, but refrained from locking it in case any other survivors had the same idea to escape up onto the roof. Once that was done, he turned around to find the other three standing in front of the railing, and just staring out towards the city. When he sees this, Chris feels dread creep into his stomach, and he slowly walks over to join them. When he walks up next to Takashi, his expression becomes grim as he simply stares at the sight that greets him.

The entire city was in ruins. Looking at the streets, Chris was greeted by the sight of cars packed tightly together in some, while in others, it looked like a warzone with cars tipped over, and people running around in an attempt to find some way to escape the area, shambling shapes revealing clearly where the zombies were. And in a few streets, Chris was able to make out shadows running out of the front of shops with broken glass, large objects being carried over their shoulders. It wasn't hard to imagine that with the city going to hell, theft would be fairly common. And that type of thinking was infectious, since the more people that did it, the more hopeless the situation would seem so that more and more people would commit similar acts.

Looking at a different part of the city, Chris could see that the factories and other industrial buildings were ablaze, most likely due to accidents that happened within the buildings after the Zombies showed up and started to wreak havoc. With those fires going on, along with others that spread out over the city, it wasn't hard to imagine that those parts of the city were already done for, with the rest of the city likely to follow behind. And looking at the parts of the city that contained the regular houses, Chris could see even more fire, with shadows running around in an attempt to escape the city as it fell into chaos.

However, while his friends continued to focus on the different aspects of the city falling apart, there was one detail that Chris noticed after a few seconds, that he then focused on in order to see it better. Because spread out over the city was a substance that appeared to be a mix of dark grey and black, which covered streets, and the bottoms of some buildings. And when he recognized the substance, he was bombarded with more memories of his past.

 _The whole front of a house covered in the black and grey substance, with a large, skinny shadowed figure leaping out of the doorframe, only to let out a screech when it notices the human looking at it._

 _Metal brought up to meet the figure, flashes of light exploding out of the metal, while loud bangs fill the air for a few seconds, before the figure crumples to the ground in a heap, and ceases any movement._

 _Some of the inside of the house is covered in the same substance as the outside, while a few green objects are sitting on the ground. Metal is brought up once again, and the green objects are reduced to pieces in a matter of seconds._

 _A different room with a similar layout, but with the top of one of the green objects opened. A small figure darts around the room, before heading towards the human being that had walked in, only to curl in on itself after twitching as metal is brought up to meet it and cause it's death, the human in the room going still as the green objects are once again destroyed by the metal object they hold._

Chris forces himself to shake the memories away, and focus back on the events that are occurring at the present time, turning to look at Takashi as he starts speaking. "Holy shit, it's happening everywhere…" His friend says in disbelief, his wide eyes looking out at the burning city below, with Hisashi having a similar facial expression.

"But everything was normal… Everything was _fine_ a few hours ago!" Rei exclaims, her brain refusing to believe what she was currently seeing. Before anything else can be said, a large gust of wind suddenly hits all four teen's backs, which causes Rei stumble forwards a bit, making Hisashi take a few steps forward to use his only hand to grab onto her to keep her from falling onto the roof. After making sure the auburn haired female wouldn't fall, the four turn to look in the direction the wind came from, only to see four helicopters go flying by the school, and head in the direction of the city.

"Blackhawk… American military?" Takashi mutters in disbelief at the sight of the four army-like helicopters flying towards the burning city.

"That's not it. That's self-defense force. Where did they come from, there's no base around here." Hisashi responds, the last part posed as a rhetorical question, since it was obvious that none of them would know the answer to it. After a few seconds, Rei steps away from the other three, and waves her arms in the air as she faces the retreating helicopters.

"Over here!" She exclaims, making Chris frown.

"Don't bother Rei. If that's the self-defense force, then they must be on some sort of special mission. Whether it has to do with the shit show that's going down right now, or something else entirely, it doesn't matter. Because no matter what their current mission is, it definitely doesn't include us. Otherwise, one of those things probably would have stopped on the roof to let us on. Or, they'd be using the machine guns in the helicopters to take care of _that_." He says, gesturing down to the schoolyard below, and making the other three look down at everything taking place.

The few survivors that were still in the courtyard were being turned one by one, with the exception of the ones who didn't have a chance to turn, due to the fact that their entire bodies were being used as a food source by the students who'd already been killed. "And if that's the shit that's going on out where we can see it, then I don't think any of us want to even _try_ to imagine what's going on _inside_ the school…" Chris continues with a grimace. In response to his words, the other three are silent, before Hisashi frowns as he looks at the ground.

"This is all like a disease caused by 'Them'…" He says, making the other three look at him in confusion.

"'Them'" Takashi asks the platinum blond haired teen, getting a nod in response.

"The dead are attacking people left and right. But this isn't a movie, or video game. That's why it's 'Them'. 'They' bite people. And then they come back to life as one of 'Them'… And it looks like smashing their heads in is the only way to get rid of them." Hisashi tells the others, and Takashi and Rei look like they understand, before Chris speaks up.

"Don't be an idiot, Hisashi." He says, making the three turn to look at him.

"What do you mean?" The platinum blond asks in confusion, making Chris scowl in response.

"You might not realize it, but even if this isn't a movie, or a TV show, or a video game, that doesn't change one simple fact." He says, before pointing at the living corpses that were walking around in the schoolyards. " _Those_ aren't 'Them'. They're _Zombies_." He tells them. "Giving them a different name in real life isn't like a TV show or movie, where the producers simply want to be different, or they have an actual reason behind not using the word zombie, or some shit like that. No, in real life, giving _Zombies_ a completely different name that doesn't fit what they are, is another way of trying to deny what's actually happening. And the more people who do that, the more that denial will spread." He tells the three, making their eyes widen as they think about what he said.

He was right. Rei and Takashi were quick to agree, because it made it so that they didn't have to put truth into words about what was actually happening to the world. Even though they knew what was going on, and they weren't arguing against it… That didn't mean that they were completely _okay_ with that fact. And so, their brains had immediately agreed with a completely different name for the walking corpses, in an attempt to make things "better". However, they're brought back to their current situation when a Zombie a few yards away lets off a groan, making the teens turn their attention to it.

When they do this, they also notice that the roof behind them actually had a small crowd of Zombies, which wasn't too hard to understand, seeing as most of the teens in the school had immediately rushed for the exits on the ground floor, so it wasn't hard to believe that only a few that had been turned had come up to the roof. Although there was still quite a few of them. "There are too many of them…" Rei says, making the three males look around, before Hisashi notices the observation deck.

"Let's get up there and block the stairs." The platinum blond haired teen suggests, getting a nod from the other three in response, before Chris focuses back on the Zombie a few yards away, and feels his blood freeze as he notices something about it that he should have noticed right away.

"Fuck…" He says in a whisper, looking at the hole that was present in the center of the thing's chest, which to him, meant that only one thing was possible, and had him scanning all of the shadows that he could see for any signs of the creature that he _knew_ was either up here on the roof with them, or downstairs in the rooms below. However, it was better to assume that it was still up here, since assuming that it was already gone would be liable to get him and his friends killed if he was wrong. As he tenses up, the rest of the group gets ready to sprint for the observation deck.

"Let's go." Takashi states, getting nods from the others in response, before they charge forwards, with Takashi letting off a war cry as he charges forwards in front of everyone. As they charge forwards, Takashi uses his bat to swing away at any Zombies that get in the way, since luckily, there weren't too many to deal with. When they get to the stairs, Takashi ducks under a female Zombie's attempt to grab him, and flips it over his back onto the ground, before running up the stairs. "Hisashi, are you okay?" He asks his platinum blond haired friend, helping the teen up the stairs as he slows down a bit near the top.

Rei is right behind them, with Chris taking up the rear. He looks behind him when he hears a groan, and finds a Zombie shambling up the stairs after them. When he sees this, he's quick to clench his hand into a fist, unsheathing the claws from his bracer, which he then uses to decapitate the creature, leaving the body to fall down the stairs and knock over a second Zombie as he follows his friends up onto the observation deck. When he meets his friends at the top, he immediately started to help them construct a barricade out of the tables, chairs and the like that they found inside the storage area.

Surprisingly, it held fairly well, considering that it was made out of anything and everything that they could find inside the storage area. A few minutes later, the group is either sitting, or leaning against different parts of the observation deck, the events of the past half hour or so finally catching up with them. "Why? Why is this happening?" Rei asks helplessly, and the other three look over at her.

"…This has to be happening for a reason." Hisashi says in response. "Maybe if we can figure out what's causing it, we can stop it… Or at least, protect ourselves." He admits with a sigh, making the other three look at the floor in response. As a cloud passes in front of the sun, the four start to realize just how dark it is on the roof without light, and it makes one of them worry a bit more than the others.

"Guys, we need to look around a bit more." Chris says, getting the attention of the other three. "Find matches, a lighter, something that we can use to light a fire, along with anything that we can burn to keep that fire going. If we don't get a fire going now, we'll be completely _fucked_ when it gets dark." He says, making the other three think about it, before nodding in agreement. After all, from the looks of things, there weren't any lights up where they were. However, before they can do anything, Hisashi suddenly starts coughing, and after a few seconds, splatters of blood appear on the roof.

At the sight, Chris frowns, and looks at the ground. Apparently, he was too late. But Rei doesn't seem to know this as she immediately rushes over to the platinum blond haired teen. "Hisashi! What's wrong with you?" She asks him hysterically, before turning to the other two males. "Takashi, Chris! Hisashi is-" However, she's cut off as Hisashi places a hand on her shoulder, before raising his head as he attempts to take steady breaths. As he does this, Rei's eyes widen as she realizes what's happening.

"Sorry Hisashi… Guess it's just like that movies… And I was too late to help." Chris admits from his place leaning against the wall, making Hisashi turn his attention to the raven haired teen.

"Hey… Chris…" He says, taking a few more breaths. "Don't worry about it… At least… We tried…" Hisashi says, Rei tearing up at his side.

"But what happens in the movies _can't_ happen in real life." She tries to argue, making Chris frown at her denial.

"Rei… In case you haven't noticed, it _did_ happen, and it's _still_ happening… I'm sorry, but we tried our best." He says as he looks at the ground. In response to his words, silence is the only thing heard on the roof for a few seconds, before Hisashi speaks up.

"Takashi, Chris… Will you help me?" He asks them, making them turn to face him.

"…Help you with what?" Takashi asks, although Chris has an idea as he slowly stands up. And as he does this, Hisashi weakly raises his hand to point at the railing.

"Help me… Over the rail. Straight to the ground… Impact from the ground should smash my head." Hisashi says, making Takashi and Rei turn to look at him in shock, while Chris simply looks at him in sadness.

"But why-" Rei begins, only for Chris to cut her off.

"Rei." He says as he walks over, and slings Hisashi's only arm over his shoulders, helping the platinum blond teen to his feet. "It's what he wants… He wants to be himself until the end… He doesn't want to become one of those things." He says to Rei as he slowly helps his friend towards the railing. As he does this, Hisashi continues to hack up globs of blood onto the floor. And as they get closer to the railing, Rei finally starts to lose it.

"No… No! Stop Chris!" She shouts as she gets to her feet and rushes towards them. However, Takashi choses this moment to break out of his own shock, and grab Rei to keep her from stopping them. "No! Takashi! Let me go! He's not going to turn into one of them! Stop! Chris!" She screams, attempting to fight back against the raven haired teenager as he keeps her in place while Chris and Hisashi finally reach the railing.

"…I'm sorry." Chris mutters to his friend, Hisashi weakly rising his head to look at his friend.

"…It's Alright…" Hisashi continues says, before stopping Chris just before he helps him over the rail. "…Thanks…" He manages to say, before coughing up another glob of blood. In response, Chris simply nods to his friend as Hisashi uses his arm to try start to pull himself onto the railing…

And then Chris gives him a small push.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 2: And I'm ending it here guys! Don't worry, the after credits scene will show up in the next chapter, it's not like I've forgotten about it or anything. I just figured that this would be a good place to cut it off for now. You know, especially since the next episode has all sorts of POV changes that I won't be including in this, so as a result, a bit of extra content that I'll be able to add to the next chapter should make it so that I can keep my 5,000 words minimum per chapter for this story.**

 **So in this chapter, I've made quite a few changes. The one that I'm sure all of you noticed, Chris helped Hisashi fulfill his final wish… Yeah, I figured that Takashi just wouldn't have the ability to do that at this point in time, no matter what. So, I made it so that Chris did it for him, since with the events that he's gone through, he'd know that as a final wish, Hisashi had a right to have it fulfilled. Another thing that I changed? The part on the stairs where Rei stabs the zombie through the chest, and ends up in the "damsel in distress" situation again.**

 **I mean, really? Yeah, it's a good way to start off the series and all, but when you then go on to watch the actual episode, and see that, not only did it happen to Rei once before, but Hisashi literally told her and Takashi seconds beforehand that they had to destroy 'Their' heads, that kinda makes the situation seem a lot more stupid. So, I changed that around as well. Also, the AVP aspect is coming into play even more now, and a bit more of Chris' past has been revealed.**

 **(Addition: Responses to the reviews from the previous chapter.**

 **Anime PJ:**

Yeah, I was pretty happy to see that I managed to do that, and I was hoping that the extra details would be fairly easy to notice. As for the slight change in the relationship between Jack and Saeko, I'm glad you agree with how I've managed to make it more realistic. Thanks for the compliment on the added character depth. That's one thing that I've only just started to try, so it's nice to see I'm doing a fairly good job at it. As for more of the re-write, here's the second chapter!

 **KingSora3:**

Well, ask and ye' shall receive! And thanks for the compliment!

 **Notros:**

Well, if that's what you wanna call yourself… Anyways, thanks for the support behind the thing since the beginning, and I hope you're liking the re-write so far! **)**

 **Anyways, that's about all I have to say, so thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all next chapter!**

 **(Fun Fact: During the process of writing these two first chapters, there have been multiple instances where, instead of writing Chris, I wrote in the name "Alex", due to the fact that my two most recently updated stories have their MC's named Alex.)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Acceptance**

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 1: Alright guys, I'm here with Chapter 3! So in this one, I'm really hoping that I won't have a problem with my word count, due to the fact that a good portion of this episode actually switches perspective quite a few times. Granted, I managed to split the first episode into two chapters, so it's actually likely that this one won't be a problem. With that being said, I'll let you guys get to reading!**

* * *

 **3rd Person POV:**

* * *

A few minutes after Chris helped Hisashi over the railing, and allowed his friend to fall to his death, he simply stood there, looking down at the ground, and the point of impact where Hisashi's body now lay. As he does this, he can hear the sound of Rei crying behind him, before she tries speaking. "Why…? Why…?" She asks, that one word being all that she can manage to ask. And when Chris doesn't respond, Takashi does it for him.

"If Chris hadn't done that, Hisashi would've turned… And then, he would've bitten you." He tells Rei, having let go of her right after Hisashi fell. In response to his worlds, Rei rounds on him.

"Well I didn't ask either of you to save me!" She exclaims, before hiccupping. "And how would you know that, anyway? What are you, some… _Expert_?" She asks, before her personality changes slightly as her face falls and she looks at the ground. "…And I would've been willing to get bitten." She admits, before more tears gather at the edge of her eyes. "Better to die that way than survive by doing something like _that_!" She exclaims, becoming slightly hysterical once again. In response to her outburst, Chris remains silent, while Takashi fixes her with a slight glare.

"I don't think Hisashi would've wanted that for you." He tells her with force behind his voice, but Rei takes it differently.

"How do you know that Takashi?" She asks him condescendingly, before going silent for a few seconds. However, when she starts speaking again, she's back to being slightly hysterical, while a crazed grin appears on her face to show just how out of it she is at the moment. "Oh, I know… I know… You must have _hated_ Hisashi, am I right…? Because he was _dating me_! She exclaims, making Takashi's eyes widen for a second, before they go back to normal as her words sink in.

He had never hated Hisashi. Not once… What he hated was the _fact_ that he'd been dating Rei. But had he ever actually hated his friend? No. No, he'd never hated Hisashi himself. But Rei's words hurt him. And as a result, he turned, and headed towards the barricade to do the first thing that came to his mind. And as he walked away, Rei narrowed her eyes as she continued to talk to him. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" She asks him, the anger and hysterics still present in her voice. When she asks this, Takashi turns his attention back to her with a dead look in his eyes.

"You obviously don't want me around anymore. I'll go downstairs and smash some heads…" He says as he walks over to the barricade, missing Rei's look of horror and Chris' body stiffening as he starts to undo some of the bindings on the barrier. "W-what are you talking about?!" Rei exclaims as she pushes herself to her feet, and runs over to Takashi. "You can't take on that many of them by yourself!" She exclaims. However, Takashi apparently ignores her as he continues to get rid of parts of the barrier, the tables and chairs shaking more and more with each part he moves.

As he does this, Rei watches him with tears at the edges of her eyes. "Hey wait… Takashi…" She says, but the raven haired teen simply ignores her, before climbing up onto the barricade as he gets ready to climb over. Realizing that he's actually about to go into the horde, Rei finally snaps as she rushes forwards with a yell. "No stop it!" She exclaims, grabbing onto his arm and keeping him from going over the barricade. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I really didn't mean it! So please… Please stay with me…" She begs as she holds his arm, before looking up and meeting his dead eyes with her own tearful ones. "Don't leave me!" She exclaims as tears trail down her cheeks.

After a few seconds, Takashi gets down from the barricade, and wraps his arms around the crying Rei, surprising her for a few seconds, before she continues to cry as she hugs him back. While all this was happening, Chris had stayed in the same spot he was in when he helped Hisashi over the railing. And if either of the other two had been looking at him, they would have seen that he had the same look in his eyes as Takashi. Except that it wasn't because of the events of the past few minutes affecting him. No, the dead look in his eyes was an outcome caused by the events that had ended only three years ago, after he'd been forced to live through Hell for five years straight…

* * *

A few minutes later, the three are sitting against the wall of the storage area, simply trying to finally come to terms with what's happened so far. Well, Rei and Takashi were. As for Chris, because of the events that happened to him in the past, he was just trying to find out what they could do next that would be a good idea. However, he's brought out of his musings when Rei speaks up a few feet away. "What's the matter?" She asks in a whisper, making Chris turn to see that she was looking at Takashi. Whether she whispered because she didn't want the Zombies to hear her, or if it was the loudest she could bring herself to talk, Chris wasn't sure.

"…Just thinking about what the hell is really going on." Takashi mutters in response as he turns to face her.

"That's a straight forwards answer." Rei returns sarcastically, getting a humorless chuckle from Takashi in response.

"What's the point of lying about it?" He asks, before sighing as he turns to look forwards once again, and bring a hand up to scratch the side of his head, if only because it gave him something to do other than just sit there doing nothing. Chris had a similar idea, standing up and heading towards the barricade, looking over his shoulder as he does so.

"I'm gonna thin out the horde a bit." He tells them, making them turn to look at him with wide eyes. In response to their looks, he holds up his hands. "Don't worry, I'm not jumping over the barricade into the thick of them or anything like that. I'll stay _behind_ the barricade, and only take care of a few of the ones that are doing the most damage to it. Until we find out what we're doing, we're essentially stuck here. It wouldn't do us any good if the barricade gave out while we were up here, cause otherwise we'd be completely cornered." He tells them, making the two share a look, before turning back to him to give him two nods in response.

"Just make sure you're careful over there Chris. We've… We've already lost one…" Takashi mutters, making Chris look at him and Rei in sympathy, before nodding as he turns around and heads over to the barricade. While it was true that Hisashi was his friend, the platinum blond haired teen knew Takashi and Rei better than he did Chris. And the same could be said for the raven haired teen, since he didn't know all that much about Hisashi.

 _Thank you…_

Chris shakes his head as Hisashi's final words to him echo through his mind, before he climbs onto the barricade, and looks down at the small crowd of Zombies pushing against it. Scowling at the sight, Chris unsheathes the claws on his bracer, and uses them to separate the heads from two of the Zombie's bodies, leaving them to collapse and roll down the stairs. A few of the other Zombies manage to get their arms through a few cracks in the barricade, and at the sight, Chris pulls out one of the disks at his belt, and separates the arms from the bodies. The Zombies don't even react to the loss of their limbs, and simply continue to try and get to the humans behind the barricade.

For the next few minutes, Chris proceeded to severe limbs, decapitate heads, and knock bodies down the stairs where their brains would be smashed in by the steps. Finally, he stepped away from the barricade when he felt that it was clear enough that if they left fairly soon, they'd be able to get back down the stairs without a problem, until they reached the middle of the roof. After all, the sounds from the Zombies that had been banging against the tables and chairs had drawn the attention of nearly every Zombie on the roof, and they were all slowly making their way towards him and his friends.

Nodding in satisfaction for the time being, however, Chris turns around and heads back over to where he'd left the two. However, what he finds is a crying Rei being held by Takashi, who's looking down at her with a frown, before he notices Chris, and looks up to meet his confused gaze. The look that he gives his fellow teen tells Chris that his friend would tell him later, after Rei had managed to calm down. He nods in acceptance of this, figuring it would probably be for the best not to mention whatever it was that had caused her to break into tears while she was still crying.

So, with that thought in mind, he moves over to the storage area, and sits down against the wall once again, pulling his Sports Bag onto his lap as he does this, before opening it to check the contents once again. _Alright, let's see. Plenty of gauze, some bottles of pain killers, rubbing alcohol, and some random bits and pieces to make a makeshift splint if I need to. Alright, the medical supplies look good. As for the food and water, a few bags of chips, and a few bottles of water are still in here. Hopefully we can stock up on more of this stuff either in the school before we leave, or in a convenience store that hasn't been robbed completely_ after _we leave._ Chris thinks to himself with a nod, pleased at the amount of the normal items that were still in the bag.

 _Alright, now onto_ my _items… A few extra Disks and Shurikens, the Mask is still in there, and there's also my "extra layers" that I'll probably be forced to wear before the day is over…_ He thinks with a frown as he recalls the loud shriek he'd heard over the intercom earlier that day, shaking off the fear that accompanied it. _I don't have the luxury of feeling fear right now. When it comes to those_ Bugs _, Takashi and Rei are gonna be counting on me to get us out of that kind of situation._ He thinks to himself with resolve, nodding his head as he looks over a couple more items that were in the bag, before closing it again, and looking up to see that Rei had finally managed to calm down, but neither her nor Takashi had let go of one another.

At the sight, Chris manages to smile. _Even in this shit show, those two manage to find a bright side._ He thinks to himself, before his frown returns. _Hopefully Saeko and Kohta have managed to either get out of the school, or survive inside of it as well…_ He thinks, before giving a snort as a small smile works its way onto his face. _Knowing Kohta, he's managed to use_ something _in the school, and transformed it into a makeshift gun to use, while Saeko… Yeah, the Zombies don't stand much of a chance against her._ He thinks to himself, relaxing slightly as these thoughts go through his head, since it helped not to have to worry about people he couldn't protect anyways.

* * *

A few minutes later, the three teens remove what remained of the barricade, Chris taking out the Zombies that were present on the stairs while the other two moved everything behind him. While they were moving the chairs and tables, they decided to leave them set up as a partial barricade, just in case anyone, at any time, came up to the roof with a similar idea to hold out for a while on the observation deck. And as Chris decapitates another Zombie with his Wrist Blades, as they were named, he thinks about what Takashi had told him just a few minutes prior.

Apparently, while he had cleared out the majority of the Zombies trying to get through the barricade earlier, Rei had asked for Takashi's phone so that she could dial a special number her dad had given her to call in case of an emergency. Unfortunately, it seemed that the call only went one way. While Rei and Takashi could hear the prior's dad, he was unable to hear anything that Rei said. As a result, the man had believed that Takashi had called him, and couldn't hear anything that his daughter was trying to say. Thrusting his Wrist Blades through another Zombie's head, Chris frowns.

He could definitely understand how a situation like that would make Rei break down into tears, especially with everything that had happened during the day up to that point. For her, the failed call was finally her breaking point. Thinking about it, Chris had seen a lot of people reach their breaking point today. Rei, after she had failed call to her dad, all those students and teachers that couldn't face reality, and jumped out of the school, maybe even Hisashi, when he finally realized that he was turning into one of the walking dead, and asked his friends to help him stay himself to the end by helping him over the railing on the roof.

Sighing, Chris attempts to get rid of the depressing thoughts as he kicks the final Zombie down the stairs, watching as the side of its head hits the corner of one of the steps, effectively re-killing it as that side of the head is smashed in. He stares at the lifeless corpse for a few seconds, before Takashi places a hand on his shoulder, making Chris turn to face his friend. "We're ready to go." Takashi tells him, getting a nod from his friend in response.

"Right. Guess our first order of business would be to get back into the school, right?" He asks, getting a nod from Takashi as Rei walks down the stairs to stand beside Takashi.

"Here." She says, holding out his bat to him. Takashi takes it form her, though the two stiffen slightly when their hands graze each other as he goes to take it, before he grips the handle just above Rei's hands, and takes it from her.

"Right, let's go." He says, getting a nod from a blushing Rei, which Chris smiles sadly at the sight of.

 _It only took the death of one of our friends for Rei to realize her true feelings for Takashi…_ He thinks to himself as he shakes his head. A few seconds later, however, he's running behind Takashi and Rei as they rush across the rooftop towards the exit, the two in front of him batting away any Zombie that gets close to them, leaving him to take care of any that try to grab at the three from the sides as the first two pass by them. In the process of their escape from the roof, heads go rolling after being decapitated, are smashed in by a baseball bat, run through with a makeshift spear, or the bodies are hit with enough force that they go tumbling over the side of the roof, and fall to the unforgiving ground below.

Takashi is the first to reach the door, wrenching it open and waving the others inside, before slamming it shut behind them to keep any of the Zombies from following them. Once he does this, he shares a nod with the other two, before they start to descend the stairs towards the ground floor, stopping when they reach a landing a few flights down from the roof as Rei brings up a valid question. "Where do we run to?" She asks Takashi. The raven haired teen is silent for a few seconds as he thinks about the question, before turning to face his two friends with what he hopes is a reassuring smile.

"My house. We go there and get the supplies we need, and then meet up with other people who haven't turned yet." He says, resting his bat on his shoulder. "Work together, and find some place safe. Sounds like a plan to me." He says, getting nods from his friends in response, Chris giving his own smile.

"Yeah. A rough plan, but a plan none the less. Better than what most people are doing right now." He admits, Takashi nodding in agreement as Rei continues to smile at finally having something logical to latch onto in the situation they were currently in.

"Yeah, you're right. Now that we know my dad's okay… Oh! We should probably call your house to make sure they're alright too." She says, getting a small scoff from Takashi in response.

"Waste of time, nobody's home. My dad won't be back in town until next week. And my mom's a school teacher, so she won't be home until after five." He says, before he continues walking down the stairs. "Besides, they get on my nerves." He says in a joking manner, getting a light giggle from Rei in response.

"Well, they're parents, that kinda comes with the job." She says as she follows the raven haired teen. Meanwhile, Chris gives a quiet sigh as he follows the two, a few things from the conversation standing out to him. The first wasn't a surprise to him, the two were still in the early stages of denial, even though they probably didn't realize it. Takashi said his dad "won't be back in town until next week", and his mom "won't be home until after five". Just the phrasing alone showed that Takashi was still having trouble coming to terms with everything that was happening.

And then there was the fact that he'd passed his words off in a joking manner, despite what he'd said about his mom. If his mom was in a school, that meant that she was in an environment that was more than likely identical to the events that were occurring here. Meaning that on the inside, it was likely that Takashi was panicking for both of his parents. And yet, he was able to keep it from affecting his judgment when it came to helping his friends. And if he was honest, Chris was already seeing that as one reason for Takashi to be the leader of their little trio, among a few other reasons. However, he's brought out of his thoughts a few floors down, when a loud scream of fear fills the air.

At the sound, Chris' eyes widen, before he leaps over his friends and down the stairs, landing and rolling without much of a problem after jumping an entire flight of stairs, and then takes off down the hall in the direction that the cream came from. Takashi and Rei take a moment to stare in shock at what they'd just seen, before they snap out of it and quickly follow their friend. Meanwhile, as Chris took off down the hall, he could only wonder if the scream was caused because of a run in with Zombies, or if the scream had been caused because the person ran into one of _them_. And he didn't mean that in the way that Hisashi had labeled the Zombies earlier…

However, rounding the corner, he felt a large mixture of shock, relief, and at the same time, a small sliver of fear. The relief was because of a few reasons. Two of which were the sight of two woman, who rounded the corner in front of him at the same time as he did, no doubt brought to the spot because of the scream as well. The first was Saeko Busujima, an 18 year old with Caucasian skin, blue eyes, and long purple hair, who was wearing the female school outfit. The second was the school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa, who had Caucasian skin, long blonde hair, and light brown eyes. She was wearing a white button up shirt, a black skirt that was torn to allow better movement, and brown shoes.

Another large part of the relief came from the fact that even though Takagi was the one being attacked, with Kohta being a few feet away as she used a drill on a Zombie's skull, she was being attacked by a _Zombie_ , and not one of _them_. And the fear… Well, Takagi was being attacked in the first place, despite holding back the living corpse. "I can't take this anymore! Someone please!" She screams, making the people who'd just showed up share glances with each other as Takashi and Rei join up with Chris just in time to hear Takagi's fear filled plead. And after sharing glances, the group of people are able to communicate without any trouble.

"I'll take the right." Saeko states, and Chris moves by her side a second later, a wide grin on his face.

"It takes two to tango Saeko." He states, getting a grin from the purplette in response as everyone tenses.

"Break!" Takashi exclaims, and everyone rushes towards their respective sides of the wide open area, Chris and Saeko going to the right, while Takashi and Rei head to the left. What followed was the complete slaughter of the walking corpses. Rei pierced the heads of the Zombies on the left, with Takashi taking care of the others by bashing in their heads, hitting one hard enough in the chest that when it hit into the wall behind it, the back of its head was smashed in, causing the body to fall limp to the floor.

On the right side of the area, Chris used his wrist blades to decapitate the Zombies or stab their brains, while Saeko used her Bokken with precision, hitting the tops of the Zombie's heads hard enough that while they weren't smashed to bits, they were instead split open in a way that left the body dead once again. However, when Chris turned to the final Zombie on their side, he felt a familiar feeling surge through him. For Chris, using the Wrist Blades after so long had awoken a part of him that he attempted to leave behind three years ago.

The world around him turned into a living Hell, fighting for his survival, and the scarce number of people that he could actually rely on, had all brought back his memories from the past, and forced his instincts to remember how it was that he acted back then. So, while his next actions were surprising for the purplette that saw what he did, for him, he was forced to accepted this part of himself once again, since from this day forwards, it would be the way that he would _have_ to act to survive. So, he followed his instincts, muscle memory that had been learned over the course a two out of five year period coming back to him.

First, he allowed the Wrist Blades to extend to their full length, each reaching two feet out of the bracer, before he ran the Zombie's stomach through, and lifted the body in front of him. Then, his left hand flew down to his belt, grabbed onto one of the disks there, and then flicked it to activate the serrated edge, before shoving it into the Zombie's head, making the body go limp immediately, before he retracts his Wrist Blades a few seconds later, letting the body fall to the floor as the top half of its head falls onto the floor, and the disk rolls onto its side, revealing the greying brain within.

Chris stares down at the body for a few seconds, before reaching down and grabbing the disk, clipping it onto his belt a few seconds later as he ignores the body below him, and turns around towards the others in the area. Rei and Takashi were each taking care of the last couple zombies on their side, and the Zombie that had been attempting to get to Takagi finally fell to the ground when the drill entered its brain. Meanwhile Kohta had taken the opportunity to reload the nail gun in his hands, and Chris could see a few of the bodies in the area laying on the ground with nails embedded into their heads. Shizuka had stayed out of the way, looking away from the bloodshed. However, when he turned to face Saeko, he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

This was due to the fact that the purplette was staring at him, her gaze being drawn to the body laying at his feet for a few seconds, before it rose back up to meet his eyes. And what surprised Chris was the sudden look of slight lust in her eyes, while at the same time, her cheeks were slightly flushed. At the look that Saeko was giving him, Chris could only raise an eyebrow in response, even as he tried to find out why she was looking at him. At least, before he came to a conclusion.

 _Huh… Guess that's one thing no one would've known about Saeko if this didn't happen. The fact that she's apparently turned on by this kind of violence._ He thinks to himself, before shaking his head clear of those thoughts as everyone's attention is drawn to Takagi as they hear her start to sob, no doubt from the events that just occurred, and what she'd been forced to do as she stares at the dead body lying on the ground in front of her.

"Takagi…"Kohta starts, only for Rei to rush past him towards the pinkette kneeling on the floor, Shizuka right behind her, no doubt hearing the lack of violence and by extension realized that the bloodshed was over, so she immediately went to the student that was in need. And in the process, she boob-checked Kohta, sending him falling backwards onto the floor from the force behind it.

"Are you okay?" Rei asks as she kneels beside Takagi, placing a comforting hand on the pinkette's shoulder, even as Takagi continues to stare at the dead body in front of her.

"Miyamoto…" Takagi says in response, hiccupping because of the tears as her brain attempts to catch up with what happened. As this happens, Chris sighs, before turning to look at Takashi as he closes the doors that led to one of the school skywalks, making sure that no more Zombies would be able to enter the building easily. When he turns around, he finds his friend and the purplette looking at him.

"You already know the school nurse Marikawa right? And I'm Saeko Busujima from class 3-A." She says, getting a nod from Takashi in response.

"I'm Takashi Komuro from class 2-B." He says in response. A few feet away, Rei leaves Shizuka to tend to Takagi as she stands up and looks over at the others, Kohta doing the same after getting over the fact that he'd been boob-checked.

"Ms. Busujima. I remember you won the national championship last year. I'm Rei Miyamoto, I'm from the spear martial arts club." She says with Kohta standing a few feet away, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, and I'm Kohta Hirano from class 2-B, just FYI." He introduces himself sheepishly, making Chris roll his eyes in response to his nervousness. While he completely understood it, he was trying to get Kohta to break out of his shell. Hopefully, everything that was happening would let his fellow raven haired teen become more like himself. When he introduces himself, Saeko turns in his direction with a smile.

"Nice to meet you." She says, getting a gasp from Kohta in response, and making Chris roll his eyes again, but this time it's with a smirk.

" _And here I was thinking the only guy you liked to tease was me._ " He whispers to Saeko, getting an "innocent" smile in response. "Anyways, you all know me, so there's no real need for an introduction." He says, getting nods from everyone. However, their good mood is ruined a few seconds later when Takagi finally stops crying, and pushes herself to her feet.

"Why are you all being so warm and fuzzy?" She asks them with anger present in her tone. While most of the teens turn to look at her in confusion, Chris frowns as he recognizes what's happening, but decides to let things play out, and only step in if he needed to. "Why are you being so polite to her Miyamoto? You _flunked_ last year, you're the same age, she's _not_ your elder." Takagi bites out, and Chris flinches when he sees the hurt flash across Rei's face when Takagi says this. And he wasn't the only one.

"What are you _talking_ about Takagi?" Takashi asks the pinkette, a bit of anger making its way into his voice from seeing how Rei reacted to what Takagi said. However, in response to his question, the pinkette simply rounds on the group, tears at the edges of her eyes as she glares at them.

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid! I'm smarter than all of you combined! You should be lucky I'm even in the same school as you!" She exclaims as she turns around and places a hand on her chest, making Chris tense slightly since she was having a breakdown similar to what happened to Rei earlier after he'd helped Hisashi over the railing. And the last thing he needed was the pinkette losing it and deciding to end it by taking the easy way to the ground floor. That is to say, out the window. However, he's able to relax when he sees Takagi losing steam, while Saeko walks over to her and places a hand on her shoulder.

It's okay… That's enough." The purplette says to Takagi, making the pinkette calm down a bit more, and turn to look at her reflection in mirror hanging on the wall.

"Look at me… All of these blood stains… Now mom… Will have to take it to the cleaners…" She whispers, before Takashi walks over to stand behind her, and meet her gaze in the mirror with a sympathetic one of his own. When this happens, Takagi finally starts to realize just what's happening, everything coming crashing down on her her all at the same time, and it only takes a few seconds for her to completely break down crying, Saeko allowing the pinkette to cry into against her chest as she offers the girl comfort. And as she does this, everyone can only look on in sympathy.

However, Chris has a blank look on his face as he watches the scene in front of him, since he'd already dealt with it hundreds of times before, and it didn't faze him as much as it did the others. So he can only stand there, his face not showing any emotion as his shoe is slowly surrounded by the blood seeping out of the head of the Zombie that he had brutally killed…

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 2: Alright guys, another chapter done! Next chapter will take place in the teacher's lounge, and you can expect there to be a few additions made to it thanks to those "Game Theorists" and "Film Theorists" videos that I told you guys about in the first chapter, so look out for those scenes! (Note: Anime PJ also used these as references in his revised "Zombies and High Schoolers" story, so don't you guys go assuming that I copied him or anything!)**

 **Anyways, I'm sure you guys have seen that I've changed a few things around again in this chapter, but with it being Re-written over a year later, and me only skimming through my previous version to see if there were any scenes that I actually _really_ liked enough to keep in, you really can't expect me to keep everything from that version. Hell, in case you could tell from the previous chapters, I'm hardly using _anything_ from that version anymore…**

 **Also, for those of you that noticed it, _yes_ , I used a Fatality move from the Mortal Kombat X Predator for that Zombie kill scene near the end. Honestly, you can expect more "Glory Kills" like that to show up in the future, along with a few that might be inspired by another AVP game, or even the occasional one from DOOM…**

 **(Addition: Responses to reviews from last chapter:**

 **Anime PJ:**

Thanks! As for the focus of Rei's anger, while it was slightly directed at Chris at first, I hope I gave valid reasoning for her anger being brought to Takashi instead. As for the reveals of Chris' backstory, as you can see, I only gave vague info about it this chapter, as opposed to what I've done over the previous two. But, no use giving too much each chapter… As for the eggs hatching, I'll admit that I didn't actually know that, but yes, he pretty much got to the eggs fast enough to take care of them.

If you remember, just add it into a review for this chapter or whatever. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter as much as the previous two!

 **KingSora3:**

Well, you'll just have to wait and see, since I didn't reveal it this chapter… the suspense! Anyways, thanks for the compliment, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! **)**

 **With all this said, I've pretty much finished off this chapter. So, thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Japan isn't fucked… The _world_ is fucked…**

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 1: Alright guys, here we are in chapter four! And with it, the scenes that occur in the teacher's lounge! So in this chapter, I'm honestly unsure of just how far into the third episode I'm gonna get, seeing as I'll be using the "after credits scene" from the second episode at the beginning, as well as added descriptions that I'll be putting in. So, taking that into account, it's possible that a good half of this chapter, or even the whole thing, could focus entirely on the group while they're in the teacher's lounge trying to find out their next move. But, seeing as I'm writing this before the actual chapter, don't hold me to that.**

 **Anyways, I think that's about all I have to say. So, I'll let you guys get to reading the actual chapter!**

 **(Addition: Alright guys, even though this was finished with the other chapters, I haven't had much time over the past few days to look it over because of work. But, I've got some time now, so I'm gonna proofread it, and then post it. So, here's the fourth chapter!)**

* * *

 **3rd Person POV:**

* * *

It took a few minutes for Takagi to calm down, and during that time Chris, Takashi and Kohta had taken up points at both hallway entrances that led to the area where the rest were, taking care of the any Zombies that approached them, unfortunately drawn to the group from the pinkette's cries. However, when the crying changed to sobs, and eventually steady breathing, the three teens were able to take out the remaining Zombies in the area, before joining back with the rest of the group as Saeko helped the pinkette to her feet.

The group shares a look, before they all head towards the door, Takashi opening it slowly, and peeking his head in to look around for any Zombies that might have been wandering inside while they waited outside. However, he's forced to squint due to the fact that the lights are out, and the blinds in the room are closed. "Fuck… Can't see a damn thing." He tells the group, before leaning to the right a bit, and moving his hand along the wall, eventually finding the light switch, which he flicks upwards, only for the light fixtures to emit sparks instead of turning on, meaning that there was no chance of any artificial light making the room brighter. "Damn. Lights are out." Takashi says, making Chris move so that he can look into the room as well.

He'd felt a bit uneasy when he'd seen that the room was pitch black, but seeing that the lights were apparently blown only made the small trace of fear that he felt rise a bit as the situation started to feel similar to one that he'd experienced dozens of times in the past. "Takashi…" He starts, making the teen lean away from the door and turn to face his friend. "How about you let me go in there and check around." He says as he slides his bag off his shoulder, opening it as he does this, before looking through it for a specific item.

"What? Are you crazy? You'd have to get over to the blinds to let light into the room to _actually_ be able to check, and if you run into something before you get to them, you'll have to try and take out a walking corpse in complete darkness." Takashi argues, only for Chris to smile at him in response.

"Not exactly." He says, confusing his friend and the other teens around him as he continues to search through his bag. A few seconds later, he pulls out the item he was looking for with a smile, before slipping it onto his face, surprising the other teens even more. **"With this, I'll have no problem seeing in the dark. Thermal Vision, very handy."** He says with a smile beneath the silver mask present over his face, before walking over to the door, and peeking inside, he doesn't see anything, and slowly inches into the room, the other teens watching him enter. However, everyone freezes when they hear the same sound that came from the intercom around an hour ago.

And it came from inside the room that Chris was walking into.

The reaction from Chris is instantaneous. He quickly twists around, kicking the door closed behind him to keep the other teens out of the room as his hand grabs onto a chair and shoves it under the doorknob, before he leaps behind a desk, hiding himself from the direction that the shriek came from. As he does this, he attempts to calm his ragged breathing, knowing that now was _definitely_ not the time to start panicking. _Fuck! Of course there has to be a fucking Bug in here!_ He thinks to himself as he finally manages to calm down, and attempt to listen to the room around him.

He can hear the doorknob twisting as someone, probably Takashi, attempts to get inside the room, making Chris frown. While it wasn't a surprise that his friend would want to probably help him against the Bug, Takashi didn't know about them, and by extension, what they were capable of. In the end, it would only end in his death. And thinking about the fact that with every second that passed, his friend had a greater chance of entering the room and facing his immediate death, causes Chris to give a scowl underneath his mask, before he growls as he stands up, and unsheathes his Wrist Blades, glaring at the figure that stood out in his Thermal Vision.

When he stands up into the figure's sight, it lets off another screech, and in response, Chris lets off a yell as he vaults over the desk he'd been previously hiding behind, and sprints towards the figure as it does the same, shrieking the whole time.

* * *

After Chris had slammed the door behind him, the other teens outside the room had been shocked at his actions, before what he did finally registered with them, and Takashi immediately grasped the doorknob, and attempted to turn it to open the door and help his friend. However, even after turning the doorknob and pushing against the door to try and open it, he wasn't able to. "Damn it! Why the fuck did he do that?!" Takashi exclaims in anger as he steps back, and then hits the door with his shoulder in an attempt to open it. Unfortunately, even though the chair shifts a bit on the other side, the door still isn't able to open.

"I don't know… But didn't you see him freeze for a second there when he heard that sound?" Rei asks, turning to the others, and making them think about it as Takashi stops trying to open the door for a second to ponder that information as well.

"You know, you're right… I've never seen Chris just… _Freeze_ like that before." Kohta admits, having always seen the strong side of Chris. The side that wouldn't take shit from anyone, and would gladly defend the few friends that he had if they were ever being targeted. Kohta had been saved by his fellow raven haired teen many times in the past whenever some of the other students had tried to target him, so he could attest to that.

"It seemed to me that he recognized the sound." Saeko states with a frown. The shriek hadn't sounded even remotely close to any of the sounds the dead would give, so it only made sense that it was something else entirely. Her frown deepens at the thought that Chris had purposefully done something to keep them from entering the room. That told her that not only did he know what it was that was in the room, but if he kept the entire group outside, then it was likely that it was more dangerous when compared to the dead.

A few seconds later, most of the people in the group stiffen when they hear the same shriek through the door for a second time, along with an enraged yell from Chris, making Takashi try to force the door open once again. This time around, Kohta joins in with ramming into the door. However, when they pull back and get ready to ram into it again, they're shocked when something black and skinny suddenly pierces the wood, before going back through the newly made hole before anyone could see what it was, everyone there standing in shock at what just happened, before a third shriek is let off, this time much clearer thanks to the hole in the door.

A few seconds later, the group stands there with bated breath, afraid of what might have just happened to Chris, before they hear movement on the other side. They brace themselves in case whatever just created the hole decided to exit the room, and face them. However, they all let out sighs of relief when the door is opened, and Chris steps out with the mask still on his face as he simply stares at them. **"…Next time I keep you guys out of a room, you should understand that I have a good fucking reason for it."** He tells them after a few seconds, making them all frown in response as he removes the mask, and turns around while gesturing them into the room.

The other teens share glances, before they enter the room behind the raven haired teen, Saeko being the last to enter as she closes the door. Once she does this, Chris stays silent as he tips a table onto its side, and moves it over in front of the door as he starts to make a barricade while the other teens look around the room, taking note of a few things. The first was that Chris had opened the blinds before they entered, which allowed them to actually _see_ the room. The next thing that gathered their attention was the hole that was present in the floor, which showed the space beneath the floor, but above the ceiling of the room below.

However, this hole wasn't man-made, since it was too uneven, and appeared to be letting off steam at the edges. "In case you're wondering, that was caused by the creature that I just had to take care of in here." Chris says without looking at them as he moves another table into position behind the first. "Nasty things, the Bugs. Acidic blood that dissolves their bodies after they die, and destroys most of the surface that they died on as well." He says, making the others look at him in shock. "I'll explain more about them later. For now, could I get some help making a barricade to keep the Meatbags out?" He asks, getting nods from the others, even as Kohta and Takashi grimace slightly.

While Takashi understood Chris' words from earlier about not labeling the Zombies as 'Them' since it was just a way to deny what was happening, he didn't know if labeling them as 'Meatbags' was very considerate to the ones who had been turned. Shaking that thought off, Takashi helps everyone set up the barricade, before they finally finish a few minutes later. "I think that's enough right now, let's take a quick break." Saeko suggests, getting nods of agreement in response from the other teens.

While most of the group had been building the barricade, Takagi had chosen to go to the small kitchen to wash off the blood from her uniform. When the group had stopped building, Kohta decided to go and check with her. When he did, he was shocked to find out that Takagi wore glasses, which elicited a chuckle from Chris a few yards away as he watched the scene play out as he sits down in one of the chairs in the room. He raises an eyebrow when Saeko sits beside him, getting a small smirk in response. He simply shrugs, before turning to face Takashi as he starts talking.

"Ms. Marikawa, where's the car keys?" He asks, reminding the blonde of why she'd originally been heading to this room. Apparently, her car keys were in her purse, which she'd left in this room during the school day. So, she'd planned to come back here, grab them, and then drive away with anyone that was with her. In this case, the students currently in the room with her. In response to Takashi's question, the blonde nurse starts to search through her bag.

"Oh, well, they're in my purse somewhere…" She says as she continues searching, only for Chris to raise an eyebrow a few yards away.

"Um, not to sound rude, but originally you were only planning on taking yourself and Saeko out of here… Now there's more. Do you really have a car that can fit seven people?" He asks Shizuka, making the blonde nurse pause, before slouching over slightly.

"Well, now that you mention it…" She says, before trailing off as she thinks about her small, yellow car, which might have fit five people at the best…

"What about the Microbus we use for the clubs' away games? Looks like the keys are on the wall." Saeko suggests, getting a nod of agreement from Chris at the idea while Kohta moves the blinds in front of the window to look out in the courtyard, before looking back at the group.

"Hey guys, I see the bus." He tells them, getting a nod from Chris in response.

"Good. That means that at the moment, no one's hotwired it and taken off." Chris says, before Shizuka turns to face the group.

"That's fine, but where are we going?" She asks, wondering just what the group was going to do once they left the school behind. When she asks this, everyone either turns to, or takes glances at, Takashi. After a few seconds of thought, he pushes lifts his head to look at the group.

"We're going to make sure that our families are okay." He tells them, before leaning his head back against the copier he's leaning against as he thinks about the plan a bit more. "We'll start with whose family is the closest to here. If you're worried about your family, we'll bring them with us. After that, we'll look for a safe place, and…" He trails off, making everyone glance at him, only to see him staring at something. Everyone turns in the direction he was facing to see Rei standing in front of a desk, staring up at a TV that she'd turned on.

"What is this…?" Rei whispers in horror, making Saeko stand up and use the remote to raise the volume, while Chris stands up from his seat and stands beside the purplette. At the same time, Takashi pushes himself to his feet, and walks over to the frozen auburn haired teen.

"What's the matter Rei?" He asks as the sound from the TV is raised enough that the group can hear it clearly.

"The government has begun to consider the emergency measures against the outbreaks that have been occurring in locations around the city." The anchorwoman says, making Takashi look up at the screen in confusion and annoyance.

"Outbreaks? What do they mean _outbreaks_?" He asks no one in particular, the rest of the group equally confused, with the exception of Chris as he simply frowns at the news. After all, it was similar to what happened eight years back, so he wasn't surprised that this was what they were doing… However, he focuses back on the screen when Saeko changes the channel to a different news station, which showed an anchorwoman standing in front of police tape, talking to the camera as a gurney is pushed across the screen behind her.

"It has been feared that over ten thousand have been victimized in the Saitama area so far. The governor has already declared the-" However, her next few words are completely covered by the gunshot that echoes through the air, making the woman flinch back from where it came from, turning to look at what happened as she attempts to continue. "Already declared the state of emergency, and requested the emergency disaster relief… It's a gunshot." She says, no longer able to continue with her script as more gunshots echo through the air.

The reason could be seen clearly on screen, as the body bags that were once lying on gurneys rise up on their own, before the bullets that had been shot enter, and then exit, their heads, leaving the bodies to go limp once again. "It seems the police are finally using fire arms! From what I can see, they're… No…No!" The woman exclaims as shuffling can be heard onscreen, before the camera is dropped to the ground as the woman's screams of fear can be heard clearly. The camera continues to record for a few seconds, showing a bloodied leg limp into the frame, before it cuts to static, the woman's screams being cut off as well. In response to this, most of the group can only stare in horror as they finally start to realize the gravity of the situation.

At the same time, Chris' frown deepens, since he'd already been expecting this to be the outcome. Soon enough, Japan would be closed off from the rest of the world in an attempt to keep the disease from spreading. He only looks up when the screen cuts back to the main news room, and another anchorwoman starts speaking as she looks into the camera. "There appears to be a problem with our remotes… From now on, we'll bring you the story from inside the studio. The condition outside seems extremely chaotic, so stay home unless it's _absolutely necessary_ to go outside. We'll bring you more stories as soon as it's safe to cover the current situation from the site." She states.

A few seconds after, Takashi pounds his fist onto the top of the desk he was standing beside, an angered scowl on his face. "Is that all? Why wouldn't they tell us anything else?" He says, the anger clear in his voice as he glares at nothing.

"They're afraid of causing a panic." Takagi says, making the group turn to look at her in response.

"A panic?" Rei asks in confusion, and before Takagi can say anything, Chris speaks up.

"Why would you never yell on an airplane that there's a bomb, especially if it's true?" He asks, making everyone turn to him in confusion, except for Takagi.

"Well, I guess that if everyone knew, they'd be in a rush to get out of the plane, and then…" Kohta trails off, and Chris nods.

"It would end up pretty similar to how the students here reacted when they learned they were in danger. They all rushed to escape. They didn't worry about anyone but themselves, and in the process, people were trampled, or outright sacrificed so that people could get away… And not only that, but on an airplane, the exits would get blocked, and when the bomb _does_ go off, less people survive than if everything was done in a calm manner." He says, before looking around. "Now, apply that rule to the _entire city_. What do you think people would do if they learned that Zombies were showing up all around the city?" He asks, watching as everyone seemed to understand what he was saying, except for Takagi, since she'd already realized this. Meanwhile, the TV continues in the background.

"This _unusual_ and unprecedented biological phenomenon that spread throughout North America has yet to be put under control." The current anchorwoman says, making Chris freeze, before he grabs the remote from Saeko's hands, causing her eyes to widen as he raises the volume, making everyone pay attention.  "Government authorities have evacuated the white house, and will relocate to a command center on board the aircraft carrier, George Washington. There are reports that the transfer of power is in preparation for the use of tactical warheads, to combat the infestation." The newswoman states, and Chris can only stare in horror when he hears that apparently, America was having similar problems. But, it got worse…

"We've currently lost contact with Moscow and London, Beijing has been set ablaze, while in Paris and Rome, there are reports of looting. The government officials have declared a state of martial law." The newswoman says, before the screen starts to glitch out… And then turn to static completely. Meanwhile, everyone on the room can only stare at the static filled screen in horror.

"So… It's happening all over?" Takashi mutters in disbelief, Kohta shaking his head a few feet away.

"That's crazy. Everything was normal when I checked the internet this morning…" He says, and Chris nods along with him, before thinking about it, making him freeze.

"But what if it wasn't a single event…?" He asks, making everyone turn to look at him. "Think about it. Zombie outbreaks all over the world in the course of maybe an hour? And seeing how slow those fuckers are, and the fast rate that a person turns after being bitten, do you really think that they'd be able to cross into the other countries from here before they turned? No… This wasn't centralized to Japan. For it to spread over the world like this… It had to happen in pretty much every major city in the world…" He continues, making everyone stare at him with wide eyes as they realize that he's right.

"But… But they'll stop it, right? I mean… They have to stop it, from spreading… Everything is going back to normal soon." Rei says, clutching onto Takashi's sleeve as says this with false hope in her voice, making the raven haired teen give a sympathetic frown.

"Rei… If it's already happening around the world, then it's impossible to _stop it_ anymore. The best they can do is hope to wait this whole thing out in small settlements, making sure that no one who's infected can get in." He says, before giving a humorless chuckle. "Think of the Black Death from the fourteenth century. You know, the one that killed one third of the European population? Well, apply that to the entire world now…" He tells them, making most stare at him in horror, while Takagi nods in agreement.

"Alright, then how did the outbreak stop?" Takashi asks Chris, however, Shizuka answers instead, being the present nurse.

"Well, it usually stops when too many humans die. There wouldn't be enough people to spread the disease." The blonde states, before Kohta speaks up from his place by the window.

"But now… All the dead people still move and start attacking you." He says, looking through the blinds at the walking corpses in the schoolyard below.

"Are you saying that there's no reason for this outbreak to stop?" Saeko asks in slight disbelief, making Shizuka and Chris think about the question, the blonde speaking up after a few seconds.

"Oh! The weather's gonna be hot! They might not be able to move if their flesh decomposes and they become skeletons!" She exclaims with a smile, making Saeko turn to look at her.

"How long does it take for that to happen?" She asks, and when she does, Chris' eyes widen, and a wide smile breaks out on his face.

"Yes!" He exclaims, making everyone turn to face him, and causing him to blush in slight embarrassment. "Sorry, but I just realized we might not actually have to worry about this for too long." He says, making Takashi look at him in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" He asks his friend, making Chris turn to him.

"I only know this cause of a video I watched, but to be honest, I'm _really_ glad that I did at the moment." He continues, before he starts to pace a bit. "Alright, no doubt Ms. Shizuka and Takagi already know these facts, but for the rest of you, here's a bit of a breakdown." He says as he continues to pace. "A body has five different stages of decay. Initial Decay, Putrefaction, Black Putrefaction, Butyric Fermentation, and Dry Decay. You follow so far?" He asks, getting nods in response, Takagi seeing where he's going with this is honestly a bit surprised he's thought of it when she didn't.

"Alright, at the moment, we're currently seeing those corpses walk around during the Initial Decay stage. I'm sure we've all seen the pale skin and sunken eyes, right?" He asks, getting nods from the rest of the group in response. "Alright. This stage can last up to three days. So, we should only have to worry about the "classic" zombies being around for a few days. Then, they're gonna enter the Putrefaction stage." He continues, turning to face the group. "Takashi, Kohta, you guys would probably have an easy time of imagining this stage as the Zombies turning into Bloaters from Left 4 Dead. Only _a lot_ less bloated." He says, getting wide eyes from the two as he turns to face the rest of the group.

"For the rest of you, the best way I can explain it is that all those gasses that we, as humans, let out through normal means… Well, the walking corpses can't exactly do that. As a result, all those gasses build up in the body, causing their bodies to "bloat up". And contrary to the first stage, the tongue and eyes are actually going to start to protrude out of the face, and bloat up with the rest of the body. Now, since the zombies can't really release these gasses, the body's gonna need to find a different way. So, the skins is gonna start to gain cracks. At the same time, the skin's gonna start to look marbled, and we'll be able to see the actual blood vessels beneath it. At most, this'll take around six days. " He continues, before sighing as he runs a hand through his hair.

"Black Putrefaction… That's the big one here, and also the nastiest. See, after those first two stages are done, the skin is gonna start to turn black, like the name implies. However, at the same time, all those gasses that _didn't_ get out through the cracks in the skin? Basically, you can expect for them to exit the body in any way they can, even creating more cracks if they're needed. Because of this, the body's gonna flatten out, and _all_ of the internal organs are gonna _liquefy_." He tells them, getting grimaces of disgust from everyone but Saeko and Shizuka. Saeko for obvious reasons, since she could easily school her emotions, while Shizuka already knew this, being a nurse and all.

"With that in mind, I'd say that's the point that we can expect all these Zombies to "die out"… Granted, people are going to be turned every day starting now, but all the people who turned today? Well, Black Putrefaction can take up to ten days, so add all of those three stages up, and we can expect all those corpses that started walking today, to be nothing but piles of goop twenty days from now… That is, if they were all buried." He says with a grin, making everyone but Takagi and Shizuka raise an eyebrow in confusion. "See, we can all thank Casper's Law of Decomposition for the fact that we're going to have to deal with them for an even shorter amount of time. Since they're still moving about, completely at the mercy of the weather, they're gonna decompose about eight times faster… We only have to deal with them for a few days." He says, surprising everyone, and making them smile… Until Takagi sighs.

"While that _would_ be the case, there's no telling if it will actually work in this situation." She says, getting a frown from Chris in response. "Medical knowledge doesn't apply to those dead corpses that _move around_ and attack humans. Worst case scenario, they might never decompose." She says, getting a grunt from Chris in response.

"While that's possible, at least the fact that they're already showing signs of Initial Decay is a good sign." He says, getting a nod of acceptance from Takagi in response. "And besides that, even if they don't decompose, the Bugs aren't exactly gonna discriminate between the living and dead walking around, they're just gonna kill pretty much any human they see." He states, before sighing. "But, I'll explain more about them later. Right now, we have more important concerns." He says, getting a nod from Saeko in agreement.

"He's right. The first thing we should do is make sure that our families are okay. Then, we'll need to find someplace safe to hold up for a while. But no matter where we go, we're going to need a plan…" She trails off in thought, before looking up at everyone in the group. "Teams! We need to team up." She states, getting nods of agreement from everyone present. Kohta immediately reloads his nail gun, with Takagi standing a few feet away, a bag slung over her shoulder that holds an extra tank of gas, some extra nails, along with a few more items she'd found around the teacher's lounge while the others were building the barricade.

At the same time, Takashi grips his bat, while Rei readies her spear, and Shizuka grabs her medical bag and purse, the three of them ready to leave. As for Saeko, she readies her Bokken, while Chris stands a few feet away, his Wrist Blades extended a bit, while his Sports Bag is slung over his other shoulder. "Let's try to pick up survivors whenever we can." Saeko suggests, getting nods of agreement from the rest of the group.

"What's the best way out of here?" She asks the group, making Takagi frown.

"Sorry to break it to you stupid, but we're gonna have to just go out the front." She says, though there's no real heat behind her words. In response to what she says, Takashi, Chris and Kohta start to remove the barricade in front of the door, before opening them for the group. "Let's go." Takashi says, getting nods in response. Kohta is the first out the door, taking down two of the Zombies with clean shots to the head, putting them down for good. Takashi is the next out, and he swings his bat into the side of another Zombie, sending the corpse into a wall, where the side of the thing's head caves in from the impact.

By this point, the group was ready to take out anything that got in their way as they head for the Microbus, and their only escape from school. Except that in reality, only _one_ of them was ready for everything that they would encounter…

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 2: Alright guys, so this is chapter 4… Which originally, was the ending of chapter 2, and the beginning of chapter 3 in my previous version… In case you couldn't already tell from the story, and what I've already told you guys, this version is gonna be quite a bit longer, with a lot more detail! As you can see, I kept Chris facing off against a Bug in the teacher's lounge, but put less description into the fight, since I have plans for future chapters when he encounters the Xenomorphs.**

 **Now, as for the info that I got from Film Theorists, well, in case you couldn't tell from what Chris said, it was the body decay information that he had. I watched that video on Film Theorists a few days ago, learned that, and realized that "Holy Shit. Even though it's probably gonna take longer since medical knowledge no longer applies to the Zombies, that doesn't mean that it's completely thrown out the window." Especially when you take into account Casper's Law of Decomposition. Needless to say, even though the world is fucked up to all hell, it's still gonna be able to return to normal, just… Not very fast.**

 **Oh yeah, and the unnatural spread of the zombies was explained thanks to a "Game Theorists" video a while back, since he'd found out that if a zombie outbreak happened in America, and they were _running_ zombies… Well, a good portion of the middle of America would still be zombie free even two weeks after the first infected showed up. So, the outbreak starting in every major city all around the world pretty much at once was the only way I was able to think of a solution to how fast it happened in HOTD.**

 **(Addition: Responses to reviews in the last chapter:**

 **Anime PJ:**

Yeah, more on that later, but needless to say that he didn't come away from that unscarred…As for the brutal kill, yet again, It'll be explained in a later chapter, but it'll become easy to understand once it is. As for Saeko's reaction… You can't tell me that it's unexpected, with how she acts RIGHT after her and Takashi exit the Shrine later in Canon… For Chris ignoring it, I just kinda figured it wouldn't be the right time for him to acknowledge it.

I'm glad you like his brutal way of killing, since you can look forwards to it more in the future chapters, and with a bit more backstory explained this chapter, possibly a bit difficult to find, I'm also glad that I'm doing a good job at teasing you guys with minute bits of information about it. XD

 **KingSora3:**

Thanks! I was hoping that I gave a good reason for her to stay focused on Takashi, since in all honesty, with how I had Chris acting during that scene, it would've been a bit difficult to write out a "confrontation" between the him and Rei… And thanks for the compliment on my abilities as a writer! I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much as the last!

 **BuddyitsDerek:**

Thanks! And even though it took me a few days to get this chapter out, I hope you can understand my reasoning… Having a full time job is NOT fun… Even if it is at a pizza place. As for "it" making a real appearance, well, I showed a bit of a confrontation in this chapter, but you can expect more situations like that with more detail in the future! **)**

 **Anyways, that's about it for this chapter. I'm gonna get started on the next one. So, thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


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